What Lies Beneath The Ink
by PrincessofKingdomHearts16
Summary: Faith and Danny Stein grew up surrounded by Bendy and his friends. When their Father, Henry Stein receives a letter from his old friend, Joey Drew, the two go with him to his old workshop to see what his old friend wanted. They are soon trapped in a cartoon world they must now escape from. The two children will soon find secrets about the studio, the employees and even, themselves.
1. Bio

Name: Faith Stein

Age: 7

VA: Ariel Winter

Looks: Brown hair, blue eyes, normal skin tone.

Relations: Henry Stein(father), Linda Stein(mother), Daniel Stein(brother).

Occupation: Elementary School student

Outfit: Love Nikki Folk Song Dress, White Knee Stockings, Fleeting Clouds Shoes.

Traits: Sweet, shy, smart, artistic.

Likes: Her parents, her brother, Vivida, Flora, drawing, singing(by herself), cartoons, swimming.

Dislikes: Monsters, the dark, scary noises.

Goal: To be an animator like her father.

History: Faith grew up, happy and healthy. Due to her father being the creator of the cartoon, Faith was surrounded by Bendy the Dancing Devil and his friends. She would always watch the cartoons with her brother, Daniel. Faith idolized her father, Henry, and wanted to become an animator like him when she was older. She even created two cartoons of her own; Vivida Butterfly and Flora Rosa. However, whenever she or Danny asked their father about his old job, he would change the subject. Things change when Henry receives a letter from his old friend, Joey Drew.

* * *

Name: Daniel 'Danny' Stein

Age: 8

VA: Ty Panitz

Looks: Blonde hair, brown eyes, normal skin tone.

Relations: Henry Stein(father), Linda Stein(mother), Faith Stein(sister).

Occupation: Elementary School student

Outfit: White shirt with blue lining the neck and arm holes, navy overalls and red sneakers.

Traits: Protective, smart, artistic.

Likes: His parents, his sister, Simon, Aiden, drawing, music( mostly piano), cartoons, swimming.

Dislikes: Bullies, the dark, heights.

Goal: To be an animator like his father.

History: Danny had a love for cartoons since he was very young. He would always watch them with his younger sister, Faith. At first, he and Faith never got along, but after a while, they warmed up to each other and became inseparable. Danny admires his father's work. So much so that he created two cartoons of his own; Aiden Fox and Simon Owl. One day, Henry receives a letter from his old partner and friend, Joey Drew, asking Henry to come back to the studio to see something.

* * *

 **This will be an AU. Roughly ten years have past since Henry quit the studio so, it hasn't been that long but a lot happened in those ten years and a lot happened before.**


	2. A Letter From An Old Friend

My Pov

 _Look how beautiful she is._

 _She's just like you._

 _Come here Faith._

 _Go on sweetie. Walk to Daddy._

 _Atta girl!_

 _You're our precious little angel._

I snapped awake. What was that? Ever since I was two, I've heard those voices in my dreams. Those voices... they sounded so familiar. I shook my head and got out of bed. I walked over to the chair that had my clothes laying on it. I threw off my nightgown, put on my dress and white knee-socks and then went downstairs. I saw Mommy had set the table and Danny was already eating.

"Finally, Sleeping Beauty woke up." Danny said. I playfully stuck my tongue out at him.

"Danny, don't tease your sister. Faith, sit down and eat." Mommy said. I sat down in my chair and started eating. That's when my daddy came downstairs and he looked awful. He looked tired, his hair and clothes were messy and he looked like he felt sick.

"Sweetie, were you up all night?" Mommy asked.

"I couldn't help. Ten years after I quit, Joey sends me a letter." Daddy said. I had only heard about Mr. Joey once. From what I heard, he always kept Daddy working and because of that, Daddy hardly ever saw Mommy. But once Mommy found out she was going to have Danny, Daddy quit his job.

"Henry, you don't own him anything. You can just throw it away and never have to worry about." Mommy said.

"But what if it's important? Last I heard, his health started declining around the time the studio started going bankrupt." Daddy said.

"He worked you like a dog for years and for what? To take credit for the characters you created." Mommy said.

"Linda, he just wants me to see something at the studio. I'll go there, I'll look at it and then I'll come home." Daddy said. Mommy sighed.

"Okay. Just promise me you'll only look at whatever it is he wanted and then come home." Mommy plead. Daddy nodded his head.

"Can we go too?" Danny asked. Both of our parents looked at us, mainly at Danny.

"Why would you both want to go to an old studio?" Daddy asked.

"We want to see where you worked." I said. Mommy pulled Daddy into the living room so we wouldn't hear anything.

* * *

Henry's Pov

I knew what Linda was afraid of. She was afraid of the kids finding out the truth. I was actually surprised they hadn't figured it out already. I mean, We were both brunettes. I had blue eyes and Linda had brown. Everyone could easily think Faith was ours, but not Danny. We hadn't had any luck having kids of our own, so when Danny and Faith had both been ruled as abandoned, we took them.

"Henry, you know that they all worked there." Linda said.

"I know, but not Faith's parents. They worked at Archgate Films. Besides, I never met them." I said.

"Yes, but what if Joey lured them back? They did work for the studio first." Linda said.

"Linda! Calm down. Joey doesn't even know about Danny or Faith. If he happens to be at the studio, I'll keep the kids out of sight. I promise, the most we'll be gone is an hour." I said. She seemed to think about it before nodding. I went back to the kids and told them they could come with me. They went upstairs to take some things with them to keep them entertained.

* * *

My Pov

I went into my room, grabbed my backpack and started thinking of what to take. That's when I saw my Bendy, Boris and Alice Angel dolls. I've had them for as long as I can remember. I grabbed them and stuffed them into my bag. I decided to take my sketchpad and colored pencils too. I saw Danny with his walkie-talkies.

"Just in case we somehow get separated." Danny said. "Or we can play hide-and-seek." I rolled my eyes. We met Daddy downstairs. We piled into the car.

"Henry... there's something else I need to tell you." Mommy said.

"You can tell me when I get back Linda." Daddy said. It seemed really important. "I just wanna get there and get back." He got into the car, started it and started driving. It took about thirty minutes to get there, but eventually we found it. We went inside.

* * *

Henry's Pov

My children and I stepped into the old studio. I saw how abandoned and rundown it was. I started walking toward the building with the kids not far behind. I came to the front door and opened it. We stepped in.

Alright Joey. I'm here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me see." I said. We walked around until we came to my desk. "Hey, here's my old desk. I've wasted so much time in this chair." We walked into the room directly behind my desk. I saw many other desks. "Looks like they knocked out a wall or two after I left. Guess it took a few people to replace me."

"Of course it did! You're the best Dad."Danny said. I ruffled my son's hair. We walked through the studio before coming to a balcony. I saw a set of chains going down into an opening in the floor. I looked over to the power source and saw the cells were missing.

"This lift could use a few dry cells." I said.

"I found some Daddy!" Faith said. I went over to the trunk, took the cells and put them in the slots. I then pulled the lever.

"Let's see what you're hiding down there, old friend." I said. The chains became to move. Soon, a large machine rises from the hole in the floor.

"What is that?" Danny asked.

"What does it do?" Faith asked.

"I don't know kids. We'll have to turn it on first." I said.

"What should we do?" Danny asked. I thought for a minute.

"We need to adjust the pressure." I said. We headed to where the pump lever should be. If I had known what laid ahead, I would have taken the kids, ran like hell out of the studio and never looked back.


	3. Enter the Nightmare

Henry's Pov

We started looking for the pump lever.

"Maybe it's this way." Faith said. She wondered off in another direction. Suddenly, Danny and I hear her scream almost bloody murder.

"Faith!" Danny yelled.

"Honey!" I yelled. we rounded a corner and found her hunched over in a ball, covering her face and crying. Danny wrapped her arms around her. I knelt down their level. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" She lifted a trembling finger and pointed straight ahead.

"Boris..." Faith whimpered. Danny looked and gasped. I looked and felt my heart seize. I walked toward my frightened daughter was pointing at. I entered a room and there, strapped to a table with his chest ripped open, was one of my beloved creations. It was Boris the Wolf. His eyes were X's, the cartoon signature sign of death. In the gaping hole of his chest was a wrench.

"Oh my God. Joey, what were you doing?" I wondered aloud. How had Joey brought Boris to life and how could he have mutilated him in such a way? I saw both of my children weeping. They love Bendy, Boris and Alice a lot. I walked over to them and hugged them both, shielding them from the horrible sight. "Come on kids." We walked away, the kids still crying and shaking. I wish I knew that Boris was on display like that and I would've stopped Faith from going on farther. When we rounded a corner, Faith spotted something on one of the tables.

"Daddy, look! A cassette player." Faith said. She pressed the play button. Soon, a recording of someone began to play. I recognized the voice as Wally Franks, the janitor.

 _"At this point, I don't get what Joey's plan is for this company. The animations sure aren't being finished on time anymore, and I certainly don't see why we need this...machine. It's noisy, it's messy, and who needs that much ink anyway? Also, get this: Joey had each one of us "donate" something from our work stations. We put them on these little pedestals in the break room. "To help appease the gods", Joey says. "Keep things going". I think he's lost his mind, but, hey, he writes the checks. But I tell you what, if one more of these pipes burst, I'm outta here."_

Wally had always been an amazing friend. He was always telling me not to be down whenever Joey who belittle my ideas. Last I heard, he retired early before the studio closed, got married and is starting a family. He moved to Florida, so we didn't talk much but we've kept in touch.

"Was he someone you worked with Dad?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. Wally was silly, but he was a good friend." I said. We started walking toward the break room and soon found the switch. I looked around and saw pictures above each of the pedestals. I thought about what Wally had said on his tape. "Kids, go wait by the Ink Machine. I'm going to get the things on the pictures. Just wait there. I'll turn on the machine for a few seconds, turn it off and leave." Both my kids nodded eagerly and went back toward the machine. I looked around and found a book titled 'Illusion of Living'. I had always seen Joey reading this. I picked it up and started looking for everything else. That's when I remembered that I need a wrench and the only one I could think of was the one in Boris's chest.

* * *

My Pov

We made it back to the machine and waited. We could hear Daddy walking through the hallways. That's when we heard a sloshing sound.

"Wait here Faith. I'm going to go look." Danny said. Before I could say anything, he ran off.

"Danny! Don't leave me alone!" I exclaimed. I stood there and waited. I kept hearing banging noises and clatter.

 _Help..._

I looked out into the hall. I stepped away from the entrance to the Ink Machine and looked up and down the hallway.

"Daddy? Danny?" I called out. I thought maybe it was one of them, but... the voice sounded like a girl's. It actually sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

 _Help..._

 _Help us please!_

I started getting scared. Soon, I was hearing multiple voices crying out for help. It was like the voices were all around me, but there was no one there. I fell to the ground and cried out.

"I don't know how to help you!" Just like that, the voices stop. I looked up and saw I was alone. I heard a thump sound followed by the sound of ink sloshing. Daddy must have turned the machine on. That's when I heard a familiar whistling sound. That was Bendy's whistling tune. The one I would hear in some of the cartoons. "Bendy?" Like before, the whistling stopped.

"Faith!" I turned and saw Daddy and Danny.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked.

"I heard a bunch of voices calling for help and then I heard Bendy whistling." I said. Daddy and Danny looked at each other.

"Faith... we didn't hear any of that." Danny said. I was shocked a little. How did they not hear that?

"Come on kids. Let's see what the machine's doing." Daddy said.

* * *

Henry's Pov

We stepped over the pipe and turned the corner, only to see the entrance to the machine balcony was boarded up. "What the-?" I stepped close to the entrance only for an inky hand to reach through a gap to swipe at me. The kids screamed as I fell back and saw what the hand belonged to. It was Bendy or at least, a thing that looked like him. Instead of the lovable, adorable devil that I had drawn repeatedly for several years, it was a tall and lanky thing. Ink covered his eyes and the only facial feature visible was his large grin. Soon, ink began pouring from the ceiling.

"What's happening?" Danny asked, terrified.

"Kids, run!" I yelled. I got up and we started running. The floor became pitch black, the walls were becoming coated, planks of wood fell and the whole shop was shaking. I looked behind me and saw the ink was coming after us. The kids scrambled in a different direction before I spotted the exit. "Danny! Faith! This way." They started running in my direction. Just as I reached the door I felt the floor give under me.

"Daddy!" Faith screamed.

"Dad!" Danny yelled. As I fell, I saw my terrified children crying for me. Soon, their forms faded from my sight as I hit the ground.


	4. Old Voices

My Pov

"Daddy!" I yelled. We couldn't see or hear him. Was he hurt? Was he... "What if he's-?" Before I could finish my sentence, Danny grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me.

"Don't even say it!" Danny exclaimed. Soon, the spouts of ink stopped. All became quiet and still. Danny took my hand and we started looking for something to lower ourselves down to where Daddy fell. We decided to look for something to use to climb down. We had to struggle to move through the ink, that was past our knees. Somehow, we found ourselves back near where Boris was. We found ourselves looking at the poor wolf.

"Hey, his chest isn't open." Danny said. That's when I saw he was right. The hole in his chest was gone and so were the X's on his eyes. Now, they just looked closed. I glupped and walked toward him. I gently touched his hand.

"B-Boris?" I asked, shaking. That's when his eyes snapped open and he jerked foward. Both Danny and I jumped backwards, almost falling over. Boris whipped his head around before looking down at us.

"Who are you two? Where am I? Why am I strapped to this table?" Boris asked, trying to get free. Danny and I shook our heads, trying to get over the shock, and proceeded to help Boris. We managed to get the straps unlocked and Boris hopped off the platform. "What's goin' on?"

"Our daddy turn on the Ink Machine and then this scary version of Bendy jumped out at us." I said.

"Scary version of Bendy? What'd you both mean?" Boris asked, not understanding what we meant. We looked at each, unsure how to explain this to Boris.

"The bottom line is; we were about to get to the exit when the floor caved under our dad and he fell several floors down. We need to find a way down there to make sure he's okay." Danny said. Boris thought for a minute before he went into the next room. We heard him rummaging around before he came back with a rope.

"I managed to find this. Just show me where the hole is." Boris said. We lead him to the hole. "Which one of you wants to climb down or do you want me to?"

"I'll do it." I said shyly.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked. I nodded. Boris tied the rope around my waist and slowly lowered me down. I looked around and didn't see Daddy anywhere. I noticed inky footprints going foward. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing Daddy was alive and now probably trying to find another way back up. I noticed another audio cassette laying on the shelf. I grabbed it and tugged on the rope.

"Pull me up Boris!" I called. Boris and Danny pulled me up.

"Did you see him?" Danny asked.

"No, but I saw footprints going foward. So, at least we know he's alive." I said.

"Yeah and- what's that?" Danny asked. I took the cassette and pressed play. I saw on the name on it said 'Thomas Connor'.

 _"It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't, or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this.. are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place... this... machine... heck, this whole darn thing... it just isn't natural. You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew."_

As I listened, I remembered my dreams and realized that one of the voices I always heard was Thomas Connor's.

"This is one of the voices I hear in my dreams." I said.

"He must have worked here, but Dad never mentioned him." Danny said.

"Maybe he worked here after Daddy left." I said.

"Who's your dad?" Boris asked.

"Henry Stein." we both answered. Boris's face lit up and his tail started to wag like crazy.

"Henry?! He's my dad too!" Boris exclaimed. We were confused at first, but then remembered that Daddy had created Boris, along with many of the main characters.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"We need to go find him." Danny said. While I didn't want to leave the spot we were at, I didn't want to risk that monster finding us.

"I think I might know a way down. Follow me." Boris said. Danny took my hand and we followed Boris. Soon we came to a stairwell that was flooded.

"How do we cross?" I asked. Danny noticed the wheel sticking on the pipe and started down the stairs before sinking into the ink up to his waist. He struggled before making it to the wheel. He may not look it, but Danny was strong for his age. He turned the wheel, struggling a little before draining the stairwell. Boris and I went down the stairs and we went through the door. We were looking and looking for Daddy, but we couldn't find him. Boris had dislodged a pipe and carried it with him. We soon came to a sign that read 'Music Department'. "Hey, look." I pointed to the cassette player sitting near the sign. Danny went over and pick it up.

"The writing on it says 'Sammy Lawrence'." Danny said.

"He's the music director. He's kinda cranky sometimes, but overall he's a good guy." Boris said. Danny pressed the play button.

 _"_ _So first Joey installs this Ink Machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month, we couldn't even get out of our department because the ink had flooded the stairwell. Joey's solution? An ink pump to drain it periodically. Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office. People in and out all day. Thanks, Joey. Just what I needed. More distractions. These stupid cartoon songs don't write themselves, you know._ _"_

I saw Danny tearing up.

"Danny, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I know this voice. I remember this voice." Danny said.

"From where?" I asked. He was about to answer but then yelled. "What?!" Danny pointed behind me and Boris. We turned around to see blobs of ink sprouting from the floor. The took the form of some kind of creature. They started crawling toward us, growling and hissing.

"RUN!" Boris yelled. We hurried through the hallways. Every time we turn a corner, more of these things would pop up. We finally ended up trapped in a corner with only a locked door on our right. Those creatures were getting closer and closer.

"What do we do?" I asked, shivering in fear. When those creatures were only a few feet away, a door swung up.

"In here! Hurry!" a voice yelled. Boris picked both of us up and ran into the room. The door slammed shut and two people blocked the door.

"Thanks. You both saved us." Boris said. I looked at the people. One was a woman with blonde hair in a ponytail and green eyes. The other was a man with brunette hair and green eyes. Both looked about early 20's.

"No problem. I'm Daniel Lewek, but everyone calls me Buddy. This is my girl Dot." the man said, gesturing to himself and the woman.

* * *

 **Sorry for not updating this in a long time. A lot's going on.**


End file.
